The Office suite 2003 is hanging when opening files across the nertwork on a server. Local files can be opened without any issue. The network is operarting properly, all other network communications (RDP, VNC, Email, SQL, Internet, ect...) are fine.

I have performed all windows updates, I have reverted all winodws update, I have performed a repair and detect for MS Office, I have scanned for viruses. I do not want to reinstall Office 2003, is there any suggestion on how to best fix this issue?

Server Message Blocks Protocol (SMB) is the file sharing protocol used by default on Windows-based computers. SMB 1.0 was designed for early Windows network operating systems such as Microsoft LAN Manager and Windows for Workgroups, but until Windows Server 2008 and Vista, all Microsoft-based operating systems continued to use it more or less in its original format.

So, for troubleshooting purposes, mostly in an environment that has mixes operating systems, you might want to consider disabling SMB 2.0. You need to do so on both the "client" and the "server" operating systems. To disable SMB 2.0 for Windows Vista or Windows Server 2008 systems that are the “client” systems run the following commands:

In order to disable SMB 2.0 on the server-side computer, follow these steps:

Warning!

This document contains instructions for editing the registry. If you make any error while editing the registry, you can potentially cause Windows to fail or be unable to boot, requiring you to reinstall Windows. Edit the registry at your own risk. Always back up the registry before making any changes. If you do not feel comfortable editing the registry, do not attempt these instructions. Instead, seek the help of a trained computer specialist.

HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\LanmanServer\Parameters

Value name: Smb2
Value type: REG_DWORD
0 = disabled
1 = enabled

Run "regedit" on Windows Server 2008 based computer.

Expand and locate the sub tree as follows.

Add a new REG_DWORD key with the name of "Smb2" (without quotation mark)

Set the value to 0 to disable SMB 2.0, or set it to 1 to re-enable SMB 2.0.

Thanks Moordrake! but marcus approach was dead on and TL-01CU was also there. I could not afford to throw money at the problem so upgrade was not an option for my company due to budget constraint. I did have time though to spend working on the issue, so I created a batch file and instructed it to run at start up script through Group Policy.